In recent years, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks have been increasingly deployed in urban areas, office buildings, and college campuses, as well as public venues such as airports, stadiums, coffee shops, and hotels. Such Wi-Fi networks can allow virtually any Wi-Fi-enabled communications device (also referred to herein as the “Wi-Fi-enabled device”), such as a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone, tablet computer, or laptop computer, to access remote networks, such as the Internet, via wireless access points located within the Wi-Fi networks. Such wireless access points can be configured to operate with wireless access point controllers (also referred to herein as “Wi-Fi controllers”), which can be located either within the Wi-Fi networks themselves or within service provider networks communicably coupled to the Wi-Fi networks. For example, a wireless access point in combination with a Wi-Fi controller may be configured to support Hotspot 2.0, which is a technology based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11u, 802.11i, and 802.1x standards and generally known as Wi-Fi-certified Passpoint™. Further, a wireless device user may employ his or her Wi-Fi-enable device to access a remote network (e.g., the Internet) via a wireless access point, which may be located within a Wi-Fi network deployed in a particular venue, but operating in conjunction with a Wi-Fi controller located within a service provider network.
In a typical scenario, a wireless device user with a Wi-Fi-enabled device (e.g., a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer) can enter a communication range of a wireless access point located within a Wi-Fi network deployed in a particular venue, such as a hotel. For example, the hotel venue may be a subscriber or account holder of a service provider network. Having entered the communication range of the wireless access point, the Wi-Fi-enabled device can receive, from the wireless access point, a beacon message indicating that the wireless access point is configured to support Hotspot 2.0. If the Wi-Fi-enabled device is also configured to support Hotspot 2.0, then the Wi-Fi-enabled device can, using a protocol defined in one or more of the IEEE 802.11 series of standards, exchange messages with the wireless access point in order to become associated with the wireless access point, and also exchange messages with an authentication server in order to be authenticated by the authentication server. For example, such an authentication server may be located within the Wi-Fi network or communicably coupled to the service provider network, and may be configured to conform to the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol.
Once the Wi-Fi-enabled device becomes associated with the wireless access point and is authenticated by the authentication server, the wireless device user can place a call, such as a voice call, a video call, or a data call, to another communications device, such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer. For example, such placement of a call by the wireless device user using his or her Wi-Fi-enabled device may include accessing, over the Wi-Fi and service provider networks, a remote network (e.g., the Internet) to which the other communications device can be communicably coupled. Such call placement by the wireless device user may further include tagging, by the wireless access point, a packet flow for the call with Quality of Service (QoS) bits indicative of a QoS level appropriate for the type (voice, video, data) of call. For example, a voice call may require an enhanced QoS level, a data call may have a reduced QoS level, and a video call may require a QoS level that is intermediate to the respective QoS levels of the voice and data calls. Further, such QoS levels may be specified in a QoS policy that may be enforced by at least the wireless access point located within the Wi-Fi network deployed in the hotel venue.
Once the voice call, video call, or data call is placed by the wireless device user, the wireless access point located within the Wi-Fi network deployed in the hotel venue can operate in conjunction with a Wi-Fi controller located within the service provider network in order to complete the call. For example, the wireless access point at the hotel venue location may store a service profile for use in enforcing the QoS policy that corresponds to the QoS level for the type (voice, video, data) of call placed by the wireless device user. Such a QoS policy can include access control lists, as well as a number of rules and/or criteria associated with certain call packet flows, wireless device users, and/or wireless device user groups, etc. The wireless access point can operate to enforce the QoS policy corresponding to the QoS level for the call by tagging a packet flow for the call with QoS bits indicative of the QoS level, as well as modifying the access of certain wireless device users and/or user groups and prioritizing certain call packet flows in accordance with various rules and/or criteria, in an effort to maintain an optimal quality of service for the wireless device user at the hotel venue location.
The typical scenario described herein for accessing a remote network with a Wi-Fi-enabled device from a particular venue location has drawbacks, however, in that it can frequently be difficult to perform end-to-end QoS control throughout the duration of a call. For example, the QoS bits that are typically tagged to a packet flow for the call at the particular venue location may be stripped off the call packet flow or otherwise lost by the time the call packet flow reaches the service provider network. Further, the service provider network may have no knowledge of the QoS policy currently being enforced at that particular venue location, and may therefore be incapable of handling the call packet flow with the QoS level appropriate for the type (voice, video, data) of call. In addition, a local breakout may be allowed for some packet flows in order to allow such packet flows to be directly routed from the particular venue location to the Internet. However, it can be difficult to adapt the QoS policy being enforced at the particular venue location for call packet flows (including those that are subject to local breakout) to changes in packet flow conditions that might occur within the service provider network. Moreover, call load conditions either within the Wi-Fi network deployed in the particular venue and/or within the service provider network may vary significantly during the call, making it difficult to maintain a bandwidth commensurate with the QoS level for the call.
It would therefore be desirable to have systems and methods of performing end-to-end QoS control during the access of Wi-Fi-enabled devices to remote networks that can avoid at least some of the drawbacks of existing systems and methods of QoS policy enforcement.